The Dalton Era (1987-1989) Part 1: The Living Daylights

 

Now, a vacancy had to be filled, with Roger Moore leaving the role of James Bond, he left behind seven films, a lot of gadgets, villain with metal teeth and a bunch of memorable leading lady names. Along with comical aurora of Bond that steered the series away from the suspenseful spy thriller stories Ian Fleming created and it was time for a change. Deciding on a new Bond became a major event, it was like selecting a new pope or US President. The most popular choice at the time was Pierce Brosnan, who best known to audiences for playing titular role in the television series "Remington Steele" that began airing in 1982, he seemed like he would fit the role nicely, his character on the show was a comical suave investigator, Brosnan himself described the character as cross between James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. It seemed like the show was set up to make him the next Bond. 

Another name considered was Sam Neill, who was known to audiences for the show "Ace of Spies", he was given a screentest, however Cubby Broccoli, nor Neill himself were sold on the audition. Other names considered were Sean Bean, Mel Gibson, who was suggestion by Sean Connery, Christopher Lambert, Antony Hamilton and Simon McCorkindale, who had been a suggestion by Moore as a potential successor, but it seemed inventible that Brosnan was going to get the role. When asked about being the next Bond, Brosnan would not commit to any answers, at this point the ratings for "Remington Steele" have been on a decline for quite some time and the show was cancelled, thus allowing Brosnan to be given the keys to the Aston Martin and an official announcement was approaching, however the ratings of "Remington Steele" had shot up with all the attention Brosnan was getting as Bond and NBC was given a 60 day option to renew the show, but on the 59th day, the show was renewed and hoped to split Brosnan's filming commitments with both the next Bond film "The Living Daylights" and the upcoming RS season being filmed in Europe, however Broccoli did not beleive that the public would not pay to see an actor on the movie screen when they see him on TV every week for free, so Brosnan was out and on August 6th, Timothy Dalton was announced as the fourth actor to play James Bond.

 Dalton had established himself as a strong Shakespearian actor, he had performed with the Royal Shakespearian Company all over the world. He first gained international attention in the award winning film "The Lion and the Winter" (1969) starring alongside Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins and Peter O'Toole, who had recommended Dalton for the role. Following Connery's departure in the role as Bond in 1967, both Cubby Brocolli and Harry Saltzmann had approached Dalton to play the role in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", but he turned down the role as he was in his early twenties at the time and felt that he was too young to accurately play him, he was subsequently offered the role several times throughout the seventies and eighties. Despite a strong start in films, Dalton would return to Theatre in which he would mainly stay throughout the seventies. but would show his talents in such films as "Wuthering Heights" (1970) and "Mary Queen of Scots" (1971), he would be very selective of his projects and was very determined to makes the very best out of each part he did, he gradually began to make a name for himself in the industry. Despite his impressive work, I mainly knew him from "Flash Gordon" (1980), not a big theater or Shakesphere fan if I'm honest. During the eighties, when Roger Moore was uncertain if he would return, Dalton's name was always on the list. When the passing of the baton to Brosnan fizzled, Dalton was called in, he auditioned, performing two scenes from OHMSS, the film he turned down and was offered the part almost immediately but took two weeks to finally accept the role. His work on the film "Brenda Starr" almost prevented him from being able to take the role, fortunately, the whole Brosnan fiasco allowed Dalton to finish working on that film and move on to James Bond. The announcement of him as the next was felt as anti-climatic by fans, as he was going to compared to his predecessors and fans felt that he was the number two choice to Brosnan, but accepted that he was the guy for the job. Meanwhile Brosnan didn't fare too well, "Remington Steele" didn't return as series, but was made into TV movies, which were not very good and Brosnan felt like he didn't want to be there and Brosnan stated to the press that the show went out with a whimper. After "Remington Steele", Brosnan would go on and star in some mainly forgettable movies. Despite not getting the Bond gig, he did a series of commercials for Lark Cigarettes in Japan and played a James Bond like figure in commercial for Diet Coke in the late 80s. When "The Living Daylights" opened in the summer of 1987, Brosnan did not attend the premiere and didn't even bother seeing it in the cinema, he was on a Trans-Atlantic flight when it happened to come on a few months later, he said that he didn't even watch it though.

1987 would mark the 25th anniversary of 007 on the big screen and Dalton who was arguably the best dramatic actor to play the character at this point would star in the fifteenth Bond film, "The Living Daylights". The script for the film was first being written when it was thought that Roger Moore could be lured back for one final film. When it was clear that Dalton was going to be the new Bond, his dialogue was modified to match the new Bond's interpretation, any humorous references in Moore's Bond would be eliminated and a shift was made for a more darker and harder-edge Bond. Dalton's seriousness towards playing the role was evidenced quickly, in preparation, he read all the Ian Fleming novels, unsaid, he consistently referenced back to them He said to was determined to present an interpretation of the character closer to Fleming's original creation. Desmond Llewellyn, who plays Q, once said that Dalton's performance succeeds as being closest to the Bond character. I think Dalton is great in the role. The opening scene is a double-0 exercise on Gibraltar with three double-0 agents skydiving in. The use of paintball guns for the training exercise was something new at the time. The two double-0 agent sorta resemble Roger Moore and George Lazenby. This was sorta a fun way to play with the audiences expectations on what Bond should look like, Dalton isn't introduced until a dramatic zoom-in and jumps into action. This was a really cool opening sequence as it is very fast-paced and well put-together as Dalton is fighting the assassin, it's a more violent fight with a load of struggling in a head-butt, I don't think Moore ever did one of those, the fire in the back of the truck amps up the tension before it goes over a cliff, Dalton smoothly slips out and lands on a boat with a hot babe and makes his formal introduction. It's a great opening for him. What follows is a more suspense spy-thriller story than the series hadn't seen in a long time, set in a real Cold War setting with believable characters and schemes, it really brought the series back down to reality something that was once again vowed by filmmakers with Dalton playing Bond as a brooding methodical assassin, his performance really invigorates the series with the change refreshing and welcomed. Bond is assigned to kill a sniper who is apparently targeting General Koskov played by Jerome Krabbe, a Russian general defecting to the West, during an intermission at an orchestra concert, Bond spots the sniper who is oddly the pretty cellist he noticed playing in the concert earlier, he gets suspicious and intentionally avoids killing her by shooting the rifle out of her hands, a unique escape plan allows Koskoff to escape to the West. At breifing, Koskoff explains that there's a KGB plot to kill spies by orders of General Pushkin played by John Rhys Davies, this is before the compound is infiltrated by a KGB agent named Necros played by Andrea Wisnewski, who kidnaps Koskoff and escapes with him. Necros is a classic Bond henchman, maybe a bit too classic to the point of being bland, one of his signature tools for killing is his headphone wire from his walkman which is unique and just believable enough to fit into this Bond world that is being presented but other being a big strong blonde haired bad guy you know when you see a big blonde hair guy in a Bond film he gonna be a bad guy, there nothing else to him, his fight with an MI6 agent in a kitchen is pretty brutal and really enforces the fact this film is not joking around, this the scenes ends, you know that Bond will end up facing against this guy, the way he gets into the compound and uses explosive milk bottle is not that unbelievable. I think the weakest parts are the villains, Jerome Krabbe as Koskoff feels too light a villain, he gives a very relaxed performance as him, it's different take than the speak slow and stare with dramatic pauses Bond villain cliche, maybe it would have better in a Moore film, but here with the more serious tone the film has he just less threatening than he should be. He's consistently hugging and kissing everyone, even towards the end when the realization that he's been playing Bond he seems way too friendly. Joe Don Baker who plays Brad Whitaker, an arms dealer who obsessed with the military and was expelled from West Point, isn't as memorable a presence in the film than I think he should have been, Baker does a fine job but he just lacks screen time, such a character should leave his presence imprinted on the story, even when he's off screen, his collection of military leaders his his face on them is a fun detail though. 

The big thing at the time was that Bond was girl this was to be a first while some thought that this was sacrilege, it really fits in with the story which I think is the most important thing . As Bond poses as Koskoff's friend hoping Kara would lead him to him, he focuses solely on her and this allows them to develop their relationship more naturally and have some nice scenes together. It would be forced if Bond was running between her and other ladies. While I have no problem with Bond having one leading lady the trick is to make her interesting enough that she warrants all the time we're gonna spend with her, it makes want to learn more about her and Mariam D'Abo's Kara accomplishes it. She's not a tough Bond girl but her sensitivity and angelic nature is something unique to the series, she does seem a bit too naïve at times when her innocence starts to stretch when she can just pick up the phone and call Whitaker, this huge international arms dealer but still has no inking what this guy's about, she just thinks he's a patron of the arts. but her innocence and Bond's darkness mesh well together and Dalton D'Abo have some chemistry, ironically when she was cast, it was still beleived that her leading man was going to be Brosnan. 

The character of Miss Moneypenny shows up now played by Caroline Bliss, her and Bond trade a few quick lines. Desmond Llewellyn's Q returns, but the gadgets he supplies Bond are less fantastical than previous outings. Bond gets his new Aston Marton Vantage, in which the car is equipped with option extras but it's nowhere near outlandish as the cars in the later films I mean this one doesn't turn into a submarine and when it's used it results in a pretty cool chase. Despite the Aston Martin's return, Bond and Kara are saved by Kara's cello case, simple, creative and kinda fun. The one area Dalton shows his weakness with the role are the funny quips, there are few thrown in and although they're quick, he not as convincing playing them off when's saying that he's going to kill someone, but there only are a few and they go by pretty fast. There is one scene that really echo Moore's Bond when Dalton's Bond is running from rooftop to rooftop in Tangier trying to escape the police, he throughs a rug over some wires and makes his way through the streets in what looks like a flying carpet, luckily the scene was cut. 

In the scene where Bond confronts Pushkin, John Rhys Davies once again shows how much of a powerful character actor he is, originally the plan was that General Gogol was to have Puskin's role, a recurring character in the series played by Walter Gotell, he appeared in every film since "The Spy Who Loved Me", however he was ill and the film was unable to insure for the shoot and Gotell only manged to shoot a quick cameo at the end of film, it marked the final appearance of the character, but Dalton and Davies are great in this one intense scene between them, Dalton really sells the image of Bond being this tough brooding assassin that would kill you as anything and would do it. Him pulling the clothes off of Puskin's lady friend is a pretty rough ruthless act, politeness is out of the window for anything to get the job done. Bond's CIA buddy Felix Leiter shows up played by John Terry, the scene between shows warmth in the relationship, Terry while a very good actor virtually has no chemistry with Dalton. Eventually Bond ends up being captured when he's betrayed by Kara, they're taken into an Afghan airbase, where the climax takes place and is set up pretty nicely and plays out as one of those classic Bond climaxes and it's done in a more realistic setting. After Bond escapes with Kara into the cargo plane, he faces Necros and everyone knew it was coming the model work with the plane is really good and meshes well with the live-action. Bond's final face-off with Whitaker feels somewhat routine after what has just come before it, but it was scene needed to see the villain get his comeuppance. 

Overall this is a really good film, a lot better than "A View to a Kill" and was a successful darker change to the series for me and a lot of the success has to go to Dalton, he was really able to morph the character into this gritty secret agent and makes you forget the comical aspects that were played up in recent years. Dalton's performance was praised by a lot of critics and the fact that he performed his own stunts lent the film an authenticity that Moore's films had lacked. The film was a box office success grossing $191 million worldwide. A lot people think that the film lack levity but I think that was the point. After years of Roger Moore's tongue-and-cheek humor in the series, I think the dramatic change was what the series needed. I guess it was too much for fans, you can't please everyone.